In The Forest of Death, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba stood in an informal circle. Hinata felt they weren't alone, but she didn't activate her byakugan so as to not alert anyone.

"So basically everyone is heading to the tower, right?" Kiba said, his voice a little louder than usual, "Then, setting traps there would be the best." Akamaru sniffed in a way that Hinata knew meant he was communicating with Kiba. "Hey, already. Where are they?" Kiba asked, his voice now hushed.

The group was quiet for a moment, the moment ended with the sound of screams. Hinata watched as three Konoha shinobi fell to the ground from above them. They were covered in large leeches. Blood and shuriken splattered around them in their desperate attempt to fight them off.

"Konoha jumping leeches will sense life forms and attack in a group." Kiba said to them smugly as they tried to get up. "Five minutes of sucking and you'll be in the next world. Realizing that and setting traps to where the enemy might escape to was easy. One down!" The net below the three injured teens sprung, trapping them with the leeches as they screamed. Team 8 collected the scroll from them and left them trapped. As she and her team continued on, Hinata knew those shinobi were going to die.

Hinata awoke with a start to the dark surroundings of her closed bed hangings. She ruminated on the dream, the memory, she had just had. It had been a long time since she had thought about The Forest of Death and what she and her teammates had done. Those were their first kills, it hadn't been their last. At the time, her success in these life or death situations left her proud. Now, remembering her actions filled her with disgust.

Hinata sat up in her bed. Her body had sunk into the soft mattress overnight and she felt stiff. With the bed hangings closed and thick blankets covering her, Hinata was overwhelmed by the sweltering, sticky, heat. Hinata opened the bed hangings to a gush of more heat. She had only just gotten used to sleeping in the infirmary's boney beds she was in during the summer, and now she had to switch to this? Hinata longed for the sleeping bags on hard dirt she had slept in mission after mission.

The hangings of the other beds in the room were shut as their residents slept soundly inside them. Hinata looked up at the large standing clock in the corner to see that it was slightly past five am. Fairly early in the morning by any other Hogwarts students' standards, breakfast wouldn't start for another two hours. 'What do I even do now?' Hinata thought to herself. She could train, but the thought seemed unappealing. She sat down on the side of her bed and let out a heavy sigh.

The last two months at Hogwarts had been straining for Hinata. Learning a new language and a whole new system for using chakra was stressful enough. The foreign environment was unfamiliar and uncomfortable to her. Additionally her new teammates, despite their constant attempts to get close to her, were not people she felt any kinship with. Sakura had even shoved Sasuke at her in what was probably an effort to get Hinata to talk to someone, as at that point Hinata had already rebuffed everyone else's attempt at conversation with her. None of that had stopped Naruto from pestering her whenever they were alone together, asking if she was okay, inquiring about her feelings.

Hinata got up and grabbed the black robes that were her uniform. An archaic, shapeless piece of cloth she had grown to despise after wearing all summer. They were meant to be worn with only one one's underthings underneath, but Hinata had been wearing her capris as an extra layer, she was uncomfortable with only the robe covering her legs. She had to stop wearing them the night of the sorting because the pants caused a shape that made them obvious, and could cause issues for their cover. Just another thing she had to put up with. As she dressed in her uniform she noticed the breast of it now bore a green and silver crest with a snake.

Hinata left the dorm room and went down to the Slytherin common room, to her mild surprise and great displeasure, she wasn't the only one there. Sasuke sat at one of the tables, surrounded by books and scrolls, scribbling determinedly into his vanishing scroll. The vanishing scrolls were ones a ninja could summon and dissipate at a moments notice, everyone on the team had been given a set so they could take notes about wizarding magic discreetly during the school year. As Hinata entered the room, Sasuke looked up and they made eye contact. Hinata gave a curt nod and looked away towards the fireplace, which was lit despite it still being summer, no wonder she'd been overwhelmed by heat. She walked towards the house's exit.

"Hinata."

Hinata reluctantly stopped and turned around to face him "Wh-what, Sasuke?"

Sasuke had his hand over a book, his index finger resting on a word. "I'm having trouble understanding something I'm reading, could you help?"

"I d-don't know how much help I'll be." Hinata didn't want to help Sasuke at all. The premise of politeness engrained in her from a lifetime of being in the Hyuga family unfortunately overpowered her as she was already walking over to read the passage. Hinata looked at the word, "'Muggles.' I've never heard it."

"I couldn't find it in the japanese-english dictionary. It seems like there are a lot of words that aren't in it."

"Mhm," Hinata was trying to end the conversation, "Well, if that's all." She turned to leave again. To her relief he didn't stop her as she left the common room and exited the house. Hinata wandered the halls listlessly as she waited for time to pass.

Sasuke scribbled the word "muggles" onto his growing list of words he had no clue about the translation of. Hinata hadn't been any help when he asked, of course she hadn't, she had clearly been itching to get away from him the moment she saw him in the common room. Sasuke noted how unusual it felt to have a girl avoiding him, usually he was the one avoiding girls. Hinata wasn't being specifically avoidant of him, though, she had been keeping distance from all the team. More than once one of the team would express worry in her absence, and she was absent a lot. She was always present for their class sessions, but other than that she made herself scarce. He could count on both hands (not that he had both hands to count on) the times she had actually sat down for dinner with the rest of the team and not wandered off somewhere else.

He would have to go to Dumbledore with his list later so he could get translations for these words, then he'd show them to the rest of the team so that they knew too. Sasuke looked again at the passage he found the unknown word in. It was a description for a spell that erased one's memories:

If used correctly, this spell will erase the last fifteen to twenty minutes of the subject's memory. Ideal for use against muggles who have witnessed magic.

The context of the rest of the sentence did not clarify the meaning to Sasuke. He scanned the page for the next passage and read on, periodically checking his japanese-english dictionary and taking notes. Kakashi had stressed how important information gathering was for this mission, and Sasuke took that seriously. He has spent many days scouring over books from the library he had grabbed at random, any information was relevant information. All the knowledge he had gathered so far was fascinating. Currently the book he was reading was a low level spellbook, but the spells were all so different from how shinobi used ninjutsu and genjutsu.

The clock chimed six am, Sasuke dissipated his vanishing scroll and began to put his books away, suspecting the early risers among the students would be entering the common room shortly, he wanted to avoid any suspicions about his cover. Last night he had already gotten questions about his arm from students at the Slytherin table, and he had told them the story the group had come up with, that he and Naruto had blown off their arms in a magical experiment they weren't supposed to be doing gone wrong. His left eye was hidden with a low level jutsu, making it look inky black like his other one. It wasn't a big deal, but if his eye became visible or the jutsu was detected, it could jeopardize their cover.

He pulled one of his course books, titled Defensive Magical Theory, out, sat by the fire, and began to read. After almost three quarters of an hour of struggling, Sasuke came to the conclusion that he had been wrong when he previously thought any information was relevant information. Shoving the book into his bag, he returned his things to his dormitory, and went to the great hall for breakfast.

Sasuke was one of only a handful of students when he entered the hall, among them was Hinata, sitting on the far end of the Slytherin table alone. Breakfast was already sitting out, but he noticed she didn't have a plate in front of her. Sasuke decided not to bother her as he sat down nearer to the opposite end. He was about to serve himself breakfast when he was approached by a teacher in black robes with hair to match, holding a stack of papers in his hand.

"Uchiha," the teacher coldly greeted, "I am Professor Snape, I am the head of Slytherin house and shall be overseeing you during your time at Hogwarts." His lips thinned as he thumbed through the papers, pulling one out and handing it to Sasuke. "Here is your class timetable. As a representative for Slytherin house I expect you to maintain our reputation, or suffer my… displeasure." with that Snape strode away from Sasuke, onto the next Slytherin student to hand a timetable to. Sasuke looked over the timetable and then added the word "divination" to his list of words to ask about.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called out to him, as he walked over from the Gryffindor table, a piece of paper like Sasuke's in hand. "Let's compare!" Sasuke hadn't yet responded before Naruto sat next to him and swept the paper out of Sasuke's hands. Naruto held the two papers up next to each other, and his face fell, "We only have two classes together!"

Sasuke grabbed his paper back. "That makes sense, Dumbledore said we were going to be split up based on houses." Sasuke noticed Naruto quickly glance over at Hinata, and then back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke… Can we talk?" Naruto said, standing up, "Away from here."

"Yeah, Naruto, of course," Sasuke pocketed his timetable and followed Naruto as they wandered out of the great hall and into the courtyard.

Naruto leaned his back against a pillar and was quiet for a moment, "So… you know our teammate Hinata?" Sasuke nodded, "I'm worried about her- like really worried about her. She hasn't been the same since she came back from the war, and since we came here she's been getting worse. In Konoha she at least had Kiba and Shino to confide in but here she's been isolating herself. I don't think she's been eating either." Naruto rambled, his voice losing composure. Sasuke thought back to Hinata's lack of breakfast he noticed earlier. "I've tried reaching out to her, but she just pushes me away. Sasuke, you're going to be the one closest to her of all of us now, I need you to look after her."

Sasuke and Naruto's eyes met during Naruto's plea, Sasuke noticed as Naruto diverted his eyes for the quickest second. It was enough to tell Sasuke there was more to this. "What aren't you telling me, Naruto?"

"She… I…" Naruto sighed, "Neji died protecting her. She jumped in front of me to protect me, and then he jumped in front of her..." Naruto's voice cracked slightly and he let out a small sob. "She was so strong in that moment, helped me get through his death, it made me…" Naruto paused and sighed again, heavier this time, "It made me fall in love with her. Before that, when Pain attacked the village, she told me she loved me… And then after the war, I thought, I believed, that we were going to be together, but she won't even look at me." Naruto shook his head, "But this isn't about us, it's about her. Somethings wrong with her and she needs help before she fades away from everyone like, like… well, you did."

Sasuke took this comment with a pang of guilt. He had caused Naruto pain just like this when he had left the village in his selfish journey for revenge. In that moment he resolved to help Naruto with Hinata. He owed it to Naruto, even if Hinata was going to be hostile to him like she had back at the lakeside a month ago, he had to try. "Ok, Naruto, I'll keep an eye on her."

Naruto smiled, but didn't reach his eyes like usual, "Thank you, Sasuke." he said hoarsely, "Let's head back to the great hall."

Naruto and Sasuke walked back to the great hall and split up as they went to their respective house tables. Sasuke grabbed a plate, placed it down, and began to pile it high with food, sausages, toast, bacon, egg, fruit, beans, the works. He picked the plate up and brought it over to the end of the Slytherin table where Hinata sat and placed the plate in front of her as he sat down across from her and began to serve himself. "Eat." he demanded as she scoured at him from across the table.

"I… already ate." She said, her eyesight now diverting down to look at the food in front of her. Sasuke thought to himself that she was a terrible liar.

"Bullshit, eat."

"D-don't tell me what to do." She spat back with a stutter.

"You need to eat." Sasuke persisted.

Hinata got up from the table, "I don't n-need to do anything you tell me to." she told him as she walked off. Sasuke grumbled and let her go, he would see her again when class started, he would try again then. If she was going to be stubborn he could be stubborn right back.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" an irritated voice said from behind him. Sasuke turned around to see Shikamaru standing behind him, he was looking at Hinata as she walked away, a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru scoffed, "I mean do you have a real strategy for how to handle Hinata, or are you just going to shove plates of food in front of her, hoping it will make her eat?" Sasuke felt a spark of anger pass through him at that critique. Shikamaru sat down on the bench next to Sasuke. "If you push her, she's only going to pull farther and farther away, that's what's been happening all summer."

Sasuke frowned, "Then what am I supposed to do, Shikamaru? Let her starve herself?"

"Just give her some distance and-"

"-She's had distance, she's kept distance!" Sasuke interrupted him, feeling his stubbornness rise into his chest "My strategy is going to be that I push and push until she's in a corner and can't pull away anymore!"

Shikamaru's brow furrowed further, "That is a terrible plan, please don't do that."

"Watch me." Sasuke hissed at him in defiance as he got up, "And watch it work." He strode off in search of Hinata, she couldn't have gotten far. Sasuke heard Shikamaru call out his name but ignored it as he stormed out of the hall.

Harry felt frustration rise up in him as Seamus rushed to leave the dorm room first thing in the morning.

"Does he think he'll turn into a nutter if he stays in a room with me too long?" Harry inquired loudly, knowing Seamus could still hear him as he left the room.

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Dean said as he slung his school bag over his shoulder. "He's just…" there was a long, awkward pause, and Dean sheepishly left the room, avoiding eye contact.

Harry looked over at Ron and Neville, Neville shot him a look of sympathy, but Ron had his gaze fixed on Naruto, who had just pulled on his robe over his head. Harry and Ron's eyes met and Ron nodded towards Naruto and raised his eyebrows quickly. Harry looked again at Naruto, but he didn't understand what Ron was trying to indicate.

A few minutes later, as the four of them entered the common room, Ron held Harry back and let Naruto and Neville exit through the portrait without them.

"Did you see it?" Ron asked in a hushed tone, looking around as if to make sure no one else was listening.

Harry was befuddled, "See what, Ron?"

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked as she came up to them, "You look absolutely- Oh, for heaven's sake!" She exclaimed as her eyes met the common room notice board. Harry looked over and noticed it too, a large sign had been out up that read:

GALLONS OF GALLEONS!

Pocket money-

"That's not important right now, listen!" Ron whisper-yelled at them, interrupting Harry's reading. Once he had their attention, Ron dropped his voice to a low whisper, "You didn't see it at all, Harry? Naruto has bandages covering up his right arm, and on his belly-" Ron made a spiraling motion at his navel, "-he had this giant mark, kind of like a tattoo, but I think it was magical in nature, you know kinda like-" Ron's voice hushed even further "-the dark mark. There's something suspicious about these Konohagakure students."

Hermione tutted, "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ron. There's bound to be a reasonable explanation for that. Dumbledore invited them here, we don't need to be suspicious of people Dumbledore trusts."

Ron scoffed, "Dumbledore trusts Snape and there's plenty of reason to be suspicious of him! I always thought Dumbledore was cracked to trust Snape. Where's the evidence that he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who? And why should I ignore the evidence that these Japanese wizards are suspicious just because Dumbledore trusts them?"

"I think Dumbledore's probably got plenty of evidence, even if he doesn't share it with you, Ron." Hermione snapped, "Dumbledore opened up this school to these wizards to help strengthen our bonds with others, don't you remember what he said at the last end-of-term feast?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other and then back at Hermione blankly, she sighed.

"About You-Know-Who. He said his 'gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.' They're here to be our friends, and by being needlessly suspicious of them, Ron, you are playing right into You-Know-Who's hands."

Ron gaped at her "But-"

"So what if Naruto has bandages on his arm and a tattoo?" Hermione interrupted, unwilling to let Ron get his point in. "You need to drop it, Ron!"

Ron frowned, he opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again. "Fine," he finally said.

Ron was silent the whole way down to breakfast, only letting out a grunt of a response when Hermione told him that, as prefects, they'd need to talk to Fred and George about their scheme to hire testers for their joke products.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, an uncomfortable silence had now washed over the group, caused by Ron's glower. Harry began to serve himself breakfast and stared off idly as he watched Naruto and one of the other Konohagakure students, the Slytherin boy named… he forgot, enter the great hall together and then split up to go to their house tables. Harry kept watch of the Slytherin boy as he, still standing, grabbed a plate, placed it down on the table and then began piling on food. Harry was thinking how odd it was that he wasn't just holding the plate with his other hand when his eyes noticed the empty sleeve at the boy's side.

Ron nudged Harry, and once they made eye contact nodded over to the boy Harry was looking at, apparently having noticed it too. Harry mused over this, he had thought it odd that Dumbledore opened up the school now that Voldemort was back, but Hermione had made a convincing point about creating bonds in the face of discord. Perhaps there was something about these foreign wizards being kept secret from them, or perhaps it was just the difference of culture? Should someone missing an arm be treated as odd? People could be disabled, it was a thing, accidents and illnesses happen.

Harry looked at the Slytherin boy again as he placed the plate of food in front of Hinata, who he did remember the name of, and sat across from her. Harry watched as they had what looked like an animus exchange, Hinata got up from the table and quickly strode out of the great hall. Before Harry could contemplate what had happened, Angelina Johnson marched up to Harry.

"Hi, Angelina."

"Hi, good summer? Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain." Angelina said in quick succession, not allowing Harry to tell her how his summer was.

Harry grinned at her, "Nice one."

"Yeah, well we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how well the new person'll fit in."

"Ok," said Harry.

"I'd forgotten Wood had left," Hermione said as Angelina walked off, "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"

"I s'pose," Harry said as he glanced back over to the Slytherin boy, now he was angrily leaving a conversation with the Ravenclaw, Shikamaro? "He was a good Keeper…"

"Still, it won't hurt to have some new blood, will it?" said Ron, finally breaking his silence, soundly oddly chipper.

I have to start off this author note by apologizing to Ron for being so hard on him, the plot requires it, but damn do I feel bad about it.

Also, sorry for the six year absence. Life happens at ya, ya know?

And not to self promo but also totally self promo, if you liked the animus interactions between Sasuke and Hinata, you should also check out my other fic, To Journey Into The Dark, cause it's got a lot of that.